6 Thursday, April 5, 2007
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FILM From Page 1 lic peer-reviewed papers, you should brush it off.” Art Samel, chair of the geography department and a panelist, said the film is an effective source of information for the real facts. “I think he really crystallizes the issue so that it is not too technical,” he said. “It’s data. It’s not a person, it’s data and that’s where the truth lies.” According to the Vincent, students are the ones with the edu-
APRIL L. BROWN | AP PHOTO
UNDER FIRE: In this Oct. 23, 2003, file photo, a Wal-Mart sign stands in front of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. A fired Wal-Mart security worker confirmed a newspaper interview Wednesday in which he said he was part of a surveillance operation that spied on company workers, critics, shareholders and consultants. The company defended its security practices.
Wal-Mart in trouble again By Marcus Kabel The Associated Press
A fired Wal-Mart security worker confirmed a newspaper interview yesterday in which he said he was part of a large surveillance operation that spied on company workers, critics, vendors and consultants. The company defended its security practices. The world’s largest retailer declined to comment on specific allegations made by former security technician Bruce Gabbard, 44, to the Wall Street Journal in a report published yestersday. Wal-Mart reiterated that it had fired Gabbard and his supervisor last month for violating company policy by recording phone calls and intercepting pager messages. “Like most major corporations, it is our corporate responsibility to have systems in place, including software systems, to monitor threats to our network, intellectual property and our people,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said. Gabbard was fired after recording phone calls to and from a New York Times reporter and intercepting pager messages. Gabbard and his former supervisor, Jason Hamilton, who was also fired, have declined repeated requests from The Associated Press to talk about their security activities. In a text message to The Associated Press yesterday, Gabbard confirmed the allegations that he was part of a broader surveillance operation approved by the company. The team, the Threat Research
“Like most major corporations, it is our corporate responsibility to have systems in place, including software systems, to monitor threats to our network, intellectual property and our people.” Sarah Clark | Spokeswoman and Analysis Group, was a unit of Wal-Mart’s Information Systems Division. “I can confirm everything in the WSJ story is correct except the glass wall comment which I didn’t make,” Gabbard wrote, referring to a description of the Threat Group’s glass-enclosed work area at Wal-Mart’s Bentonville, Ark., headquarters, which the Journal said employees had nicknamed “The Bat Cave.” Wal-Mart’s Clark noted that the company had gone public with Gabbard’s phone monitoring and had self-reported the issue to federal prosecutors to determine if any laws had been broken. “These situations are limited to cases which are high risk to the company or our associates, such as criminal fraud or security issues,” she said. Wal-Mart’s union-backed
critics, whom Gabbard identified as among the surveillance targets, accused the retailer of being “paranoid, childish and desperate.” “They should stop playing with spy toys and take the criticism of their business model seriously. The success of the company depends on it,” said Nu Wexler, spokesman for Wal-Mart Watch. According to the Wall Street Journal report, the company found personal photos of Wexler and tracked his plans to attend Wal-Mart’s annual meeting. Companies increasingly are monitoring their employees, said Larry Ponemon, founder of The Ponemon Institute, a research foundation that focuses on privacy and data protection practices of companies, but surveilling vendors and consultants is “beyond the realm of what legitimate companies do,” he said. “(Wal-Mart) seems like an organization that has a culture that doesn’t trust its employees and it certainly doesn’t trust its vendors or consultants,” said Ponemon. Gabbard told the newspaper that Wal-Mart sent an employee to infiltrate an anti-WalMart group to learn if it was going to protest at the annual shareholders’ meeting and investigated McKinsey & Co. employees it believed leaked a memo about Wal-Mart’s health care plans. The company also used software programs to read emails sent by workers using private e-mail accounts whenever they were hooked up to the Wal-Mart computer network, he said.
REGENTS From Page 1 in a months time. The House voted in favor of House Bill 2 with the overwhelming majority of 96-2. Carano said it was a wise decision since “all other boards are advisory boards.” Currently, the Senate Education Committee is deliberating over Senate Bill 2. Randy Gardner (R- Bowling Green), a member of that committee, said the Senate would have to make a compromise
FUNDS From Page 2 — With his $14 million, former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., could fund nearly 3,500 maximum-award Pell Grants for college students. Or he could foot a full year of tuition and fees for more than 2,700 freshmen at North Carolina State University, his undergraduate alma mater. — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just back from Iraq, could buy top-flight new body armor for American troops there. It’s tough to say how many of the Improved Outer Tactical Vests McCain could afford, because the Army hasn’t released their
up over time. “One thing we can all do is walk to places more,” she said. Vincent suggests finding somewhere to live that is close to a job. “Your carbon footprint will be a lot smaller than those who have to commute a long way,” he said. According to Samel, in order to move forward we must go backwards. If we really get going, though, we may be able to develop the technology to take the carbon out, he said. “[Students] are our hope,” Vincent said.
with the bill by adding amendments, since the House did not. “It’s not good policy to give authority to one single person,” Gardner said. Gardner does not think the powers of the Ohio Board of Regents would be taken away, but he does support the governor’s request to appoint the chancellor. The second bill, House Bill 85, essentially allows the governor to appoint the chancellor, but that chancellor is still responsible to the Board of Regents. “It gives the Board of Regents additional powers to go to the
universities and say we recommend that you drop this program,” Weiss said. His personal guess is that Strickland, the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate will favor House Bill 2/ Senate Bill 2 and the Board of Regents will favor House Bill 85. A major concern for local trustees of Ohio schools, such as the University, is whether or not they will lose authority in making policy. “Neither bill hurts them or helps them,” according to Carano.
price yet, but press reports suggest he could probably score at least 12,000 suits of the old model. Even big money has its limits. The $15 million raised by Rudolph Giuliani, the Republican former mayor of New York City, could only build five miles of a planned U.S.-Mexican border fence, congressional estimates suggest. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s $21 million wouldn’t make for much of a tax break: about $8 and change for every taxpayer in his home state, which isn’t enough for a standing-room ticket to Fenway Park. Of course, donors had politics in mind when they broke out the checkbooks or the PayPal
last month. They wanted to help candidates hire staff and fund ads, particularly with a multistate super primary looming next Feb. 5 that will test even the richest of campaigns. The campaign largess has some in Washington eyeing attempts to reign in some campaign spending. That includes Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who introduced a bill last month to publicly finance Senate races. Others see no problem. John Samples, an analyst at the Cato Institute, said more money shows the country is getting wealthier and the presidential election more competitive. “Both of those strike me as good things,” he said.
Woman makes tear-filled apology in court over the death of her son CINCINNATI (AP) — A woman who had been scolded by a judge who said she did not seem sorry for the death of her 3-year-old foster son could barely speak through sobs in another courtroom Wednesday when she professed her remorse and love for the child. Liz Carroll, convicted of murdering Marcus Fiesel by leaving him bound cocoon-like in a closet, pleaded no contest in a separate case accusing her of trying to cover up the death by faking the boy’s disappearance. Through tears, Carroll apologized to Judge Alex Triantafilou in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. “I just want to say that I am so sorry for my lies and the panic and the pain that they caused, and I hope that you can forgive me,” she said. “I lied to protect my other babies.” Carroll, 31, pleaded no contest to charges of making false alarms, inducing panic and perjury. The charges resulted from a dayslong search for the boy in August by authorities and thousands of volunteers at a park in suburban Anderson Township. The search began after
WINTHROP & SUMMIT TERRACE N O
cation to influence the world. “I think we can get involved, but we can only do so much,” said Allison Macko, freshman. “But it seems almost inevitable.” Students must learn to sift through all the information out there, Samel said. “That’s why as students, it’s so important to us professors, that when you get out of here, you can discern,” he said. “You are the ones who are going to have to do it.” Sheila Roberts, chair of the geology department and a panelist, said everything we do adds
C O M P A R I S O N
AMENITIES
Winthrop & Summit Terrace
PROPERTY A
PROPERTY B
PROPERTY C
Apartment Size
2 Bed / 1 Bath
4 bed / 2 bath
4 bed / 4 bath
3 bed / 1.5 bath
# of Roomates
2
4
4
3
Rent
$570 ($285 each)
$1196 ($299 each)
$1292 ($323 each)
$900 ($300 each)
Gas
$0
$44
all electric
$114
Electric
$20
$72
$140
$97
Water
$0
$0
$120
Included w/Electric
Trash
$0
$0
$0
$0
Basic Cable
$44
$44
$0
$44
Internet
$0
$0
$0
$48
Parking
No Monthly Charge
No Monthly Charge
$15 per month each
No Monthly Charge
Pool
Yes (2 Pools)
Yes
No
No
Private Shuttle
Yes
Yes
No
No
Total Costs Per Month
$634 ($317 each)
$1352 ($339 each)
$1642 ($403 each)
$1203 ($401 each)
Security Deposit
$200 ($100 each)
$600 ($150 each)
$1292 ($323 each)
$500 ($167 each)
*Note: All utilities are based on a market survey and are on a 12 month average. Due to weather, bills may be higher in some months
Fewer Roommates, More Privacy, Better Price! Winthrop & Summit Terrace Apts • Office: 400 E. Napoleon Rd • 419.352.9135 www.winthropterrace.com • email us: winthrop@gerdenich.com
“Even to this day, the only remorse is that guilty and not for the death of this child.” Robert Ringland | Judge Carroll and her husband, David Carroll Jr., said the developmentally disabled Fiesel, wandered off or was taken from the park. Authorities later discovered the story was a ruse and that the boy had died after being left in the closet at the family’s Cincinnati-area home for two days while the couple attended a family reunion in Kentucky. When called to testify before a grand jury in Hamilton County, Liz Carroll first stuck to her story that the boy had disappeared but then admitted that she knew he had died in the closet where they left him wrapped in a blanket and packing tape. A Clermont County jury on Feb. 21 found Carroll guilty of murder, involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, felonious assault and three charges of child endangering. She was
sentenced to 54 years to life in prison. In the Hamilton County case, Triantafilou sentenced her to 14 1/2 years in prison, with the sentence to run concurrent with her other prison time. Carroll’s emotional apology Wednesday contrasted with her demeanor during the Clermont County trial, when Judge Robert Ringland told Carroll he never heard her say she was sorry about the boy’s death. “There has never been a sincere concern for Marcus Fiesel,” Ringland said at her sentencing. “Even to this day, the only remorse is that you are being found guilty and not for the death of this child.” After his wife’s conviction, David Carroll Jr., pleaded guilty in Clermont County to charges of murder and gross abuse of a corpse and was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. He admitted his role in binding the boy and later burning his body and dumping the remains into the Ohio River. As part of his Clermont County plea deal, charges of inducing panic and making false alarms in Hamilton County were dismissed.
Edwards receives good news on cancer diagnosis By Nedra Pickler The Associated Press
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Elizabeth Edwards said Tuesday that she got some good news: She has a type of cancer that is more likely to be controlled by anti-estrogen drugs. Mrs. Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, expressed frustration with reports that she’s likely to die within five years. She said doctors can’t give her a reliable life expectancy and even if they could, the information would be of no comfort to her. “I don’t care,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press as she campaigned with her husband. “I’m going to fight exactly as hard if they tell me that I’ve got 15 years or if I’ve got 30 years. I’m still going to
AP PHOTO
NEW HOPE: Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Presidential hopeful John Edwards.
fight to get rid of this — if they tell me I’ve got 15 minutes I’m still going to fight. It doesn’t matter what the prognosis is. So it’s not an important piece of information to me.”